Love & War by Mary Matalin & James Carville… An Audiobook Review

They seemed the most unlikeliest of couples. 

Two political powerhouses from opposite sites of the floor who simply fell in love…. 

Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home by Mary Matalin and James Carville is not what you'd expect and then again everything you'd expect. I have always been fascinated by the romance of this couple. How can such political powerhouses and adversaries find love between campaigning? I never thought that their relationship was created for publicity, but it seems that enough people did think that and have asked that question point blank to them. And that's what makes this tale of love and politics so interesting, because even though the media made such a big deal out of their romance, it wasn't a big deal. It was just a working class girl from Chicago and a boy from Louisiana falling in love and raising a family in the craziness of Washington, DC and then taking a step back and making lives for themselves outside the fray and dealing with the fray. Both Mary Matalin and James Carville are smart, savvy political engineers, but that's just one of the wonderful things about their relationship- they knew how to run a campaign, love politics and they could relate to what the other was doing. Political opposites, but that's what makes life interesting. Their life together is as normal as any husband and wife raising a family, buying a house, going to work every day but also filled with some people and places that we as readers have become familiar with if we've payed attention to anything happening to our country in the past 15 years. BUT, this is NOT a book on politics!

I listened to this audio book of Love & War and loved it! Read by Mary Matalin and James Carville, it's almost as if they are speaking to us directly about what's going on in their lives and what had been going on in their lives. They individually answer those questions about getting along, raising children, dealing with being "well known" and trying to live a normal life at the same time, and basically giving us a peek into their lives. Yes, they do talk about their jobs, but it's really not about that. It's about marriage, children and dealing with everything that goes along: Falling in love, staying in love, giving birth, ADHD, buying that first house, going to school, having a job, friends, and keeping your sanity in a Washington DC existence. This book lets you see beyond what you may have thought about Mary and James (individually and as a couple), and find common ground in your own life. Listening to Mary read and then James read what seems to be his "view" of the topic was fun. They both have great voices in respect to audiobooks, and they read wonderfully.

The audiobook of Love & War is unabridged, 9 CD's and 10.5 hours. Thanks to Random House Audio I received a review copy of this! Thanks Random House!  I've always talked about Memoirs on Chick with Books and this one really captured my attention.